The Proof No One Needed
by SKRoberts
Summary: Whatever happened to the video tape from “The Thin Dead Line”? (Check header info for more)


Title: The Proof No One Needed  
Author: Sarah K. Roberts (S.K.Roberts/WesNut)  
Main Character(s): Cordelia, Gunn, (Wesley)  
Date Completed: November 2003  
Category: Missing Scene, Angst  
Summary: Whatever happened to the video tape from "The Thin Dead Line"?  
Setting: Between the time Wesley finally gets taken to the hospital and when he goes back to work (Season 2)  
Spoilers: Through "The Thin Dead Line"

Disclaimer: This story is not meant to infringe on rights of Mutant Enemy. This is not for profit and purely for enjoyment. All characters of _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ and _Angel_ were borrowed and then returned, unharmed and unchanged at the end, with their dignity intact. Any similarity between this story and an already existing fan fiction, is purely coincidental. Enjoy!

_**The Proof No One Needed**_

Rondell stared at the ground as he put one foot in front of the other as he walked. He was a man on a mission. That mission involved Angel Investigations. His relationship with Gunn of late was less than stable. He was still angry at the man for leaving his gang to go to work for Angel. But after the recent incident with the zombie cops and near loss of Wesley, Rondell was willing to be more understanding. If the people Gunn worked with were willing to take a bullet for him, he must have a great thing going. He did not want to mess that up... at least not at the moment.

The day was slow going at the office. Cordelia and Gunn were trying to busy themselves, but there was not much to do. They did have that case they were working on about the girl with the third eye, but there was only so much of it that they could take. Besides, they needed Wesley's help. Wesley was still in the hospital, and both Cordelia and Gunn were desperately fighting off the urge to rush to be with him. They were afraid they were crowding him, so they decided to give him a little space -- but only after they made him swear to call either of them if he needed _anything_. The slow day was actually a blessing after the turmoil of Wesley being shot. However, the down side was that with almost nothing to do, Wesley was all they could think about.

A small reprieve from their worry came in the form of the front door opening. As Rondell entered, Cordelia and Gunn looked up.

"Hey, man," he said to Gunn, "It looks like you're havin' a slow work day."

"Yeah, well, it's kind of a relief. We'll take it for now," Gunn replied.

Everyone was quiet for a few moments before Rondell spoke up. "How, uh, how's that friend of yours?"

"Wesley?" Gunn questioned. "Oh, uh, he's not great, but he's alive. The docs think he's gonna pull through."

"That's good, man." Rondell paused before getting to the point, "Look, Gunn, I'm not here to chat. I've, uh, been trying to decide to give this to you or not." Rondell pulled something out of his pocket and held it out for Gunn to see.

"A video tape?" Gunn wondered as he took it. He thought for a moment why he would need anything that had been filmed. Suddenly, a pang of fear hit him. "My God. Is this what I think it is?"

"Yeah, man," Rondell replied, his face evident with the pain of sympathy. "I don't know what you're gonna do with it. Watch it. Destroy it. Whatever. I just thought it should be your call."

"Y-yeah," Gunn stuttered. "Thanks, I guess." All he could do was stare at the object in his hand.

"Well, I gotta split," Rondell said as he motioned toward the door. "You two watch yourselves, and, uh, keep hold of that British dude, Gunn. Not too many friends of mine would take a bullet for me." Gunn could not do much more than nod as Rondell turned to leave. With one last look, the man left, the image of Gunn's emotionally confusion face still etched in his mind.

Cordelia had been silent during the whole exchange. She was a little lost. "Uh, Gunn, what's on that tape?"

He managed to pull his eyes from the object to look at her. "Oh, uh... That night with the zombie cops... we had a video camera with us to try to catch the dudes in the act. Rondell had it. I'd forgotten all about it."

"Oh." Cordelia inhaled slowly, trying to keep her rising worry from overtaking her. She took a moment before finally managing to say something, "H-how much do think's on there?"

"There's only one sure way to find out: we'd have to watch it," Gunn said as he wrapped his fingers around the tape, trying hard to fight the urge to crush it. It was almost as if he thought it was evil, like it was the reason Wesley got hurt. In a way, it was. Had he not been trying to catch the cops in the act, Wesley never would have gone looking for him.

They both stood in silence for a long time. Finally, Gunn could not take it anymore. He all but slammed the tape down on the desk. "Cordelia, I've already lived through that once! I never want to do it again," he said, walking away from the desk.

"I wasn't even there, but I don't want to watch it anymore than you do," she answered, anxiety evident in her voice. Suddenly, she was reminded of another video tape from a long time ago. It was one of the most painful things she ever had to do, watching the silly promotional commercial Doyle had filmed. He had died so suddenly and horribly, but he had died a true hero. To her, it was almost a crime to not view any remaining evidence of Doyle's existence. She was feeling the same way about the new tape. "But somehow," she tried to choose her words carefully, "I think we _have_ to look at it. If we don't, we'll never know what's there, and it will eat at us and eat at us."

He looked her in the eyes, not missing the forming tears that were there. She was right. The gnawing of not knowing would tear them apart. "Okay," he said, tearing his eyes away. "We'll do it." _And then_, he thought to himself, _I swear to God, I will smash this thing into so many pieces, it will make vampire dust particles look big._

In Cordelia's apartment, she closed the curtains on the window behind the sofa before sitting down next to Gunn. They had plugged up the video camera to the television set and were now ready to view the tape. But they hesitated.

"It'll be easier if we just go ahead and get it over with," Gunn suggested.

"Um, yeah. Right," Cordelia said before taking a deep breath and pushing the 'play' button on the camera. _Here we go_, her mind whispered to her.

The tape started with a nauseating shot of the ground and a pair of feet as someone walked.

_All right, look. All I'm sayin' is, you gotta give me time to set up so they don't see me with this. The cops see me with this--_

Interrupting what Rondell was saying, Gunn pushed the 'fast-forward' button. "It'll be a few minutes," he explained to Cordelia. He really did not want to get to the bad part any quicker than he had to, but the anticipation would kill him if he did not get through the idle chatter. He hit 'play' when he saw the police officer appear.

_--I'd like to know what we did wrong. You know, what law we broke. 'Cause if we broke one, I think we should know what it was so we don't make the same mistake twice._

_I'm not going to say it again._

_Wait! Officer, wait!_

Both Gunn and Cordelia tensed as they heard the familiar English-accented voice come from somewhere not in view of the camera. Just then, Rondell moved the camera enough to where it now showed Wesley running into view.

_This man is a friend of mine, a very good friend. I'm sure he hasn't committed any--_

His words were cut off by a loud gunshot. Gunn and Cordelia thought they had been shot themselves. They knew it was coming, but it happened so fast and was so shocking.

Wesley quickly fell against the wall of the building next to which he was standing.

_WESLEY!_

There was a blur of motion as Gunn attacked the police office.

_He's got another gun! _Rondell yelled, and there were then two more shots. The police officer fell.

_Awe, man. Awe, man!_

_Let's get the hell outta here!_

_Help me get Wesley!_

Gunn was almost taken aback by the tone in his own voice. He had, of course, been nearly scared to death at that moment, but he never though he could sound that way. The camera caught the whole scene as Gunn ran over to Wesley.

_Is anyone else cold? _Wesley's voice sounded more confused than in pain.

_It's okay, man. We're gonna take you some place warm. Help me pick him up! COME ON! _There was another blur of motion as Rondell ran over to help._ COME ON! _Gunn called again.

Gunn again pressed the 'fast-forward' button. When it looked like the figures had stopped, he then played it. Rondell still had the camera tucked in his jacket. The camera was focused on the lower half of Gunn and the blood all over Wesley's stomach. Cordelia involuntarily gasped.

_--Ambulance ain't gonna come down here._

_Shut up before they hear you!_

Gunn quickly took off his jacket and applied it to stop the bleeding.

_I don't think I'm doing very well. _Wesley's voice was desperate and he was breathing very hard.

_Hey, you're gonna be fine, man. All right?! Getting' shot like this... Yeah... I seen a lotta people been shot worse than this. Never even slowed 'em down._

There was a long pause where only Wesley's ragged breathing could be heard. Then there would loud footsteps.

_It's here!_

_Come on! Hurry! Move!_ Gunn said as the camera was obscured by clothing as Rondell helped the injured man up.

Gunn stopped the tape. He knew the rest, and that was already enough. He could not take any more. Cordelia might have objected had she not been feeling the same way. The emotions she had felt when first seeing Wesley hurt were bad enough, but this was too much. Neither of them spoke a word for some time.

Finally, Cordelia spoke up, "Okay... Now we know what's on the tape. What do we do now?"

He ejected the tape and held it in his hand. "I don't know," Gunn said quietly, staring at the tape. "Think we should tell Wes about it?"

Cordelia considered for a time, but was firm with her answer, "No. You just had to live that over again by seeing it happen. Wesley shouldn't have to. He'll already relive it for the rest of his life."

"So what do with do with it? I don't know about you, but I want to smash into as many pieces as possible," he said, brandishing it as he stood up. "But..."

"But what?"

"I don't know. I got this nagging feeling that if I destroy it, one of the most amazing things anyone has ever done for me with be erased," Gunn said. "Does that make any sense at all?"

She stood up to meet his eyes. "Yes, it does. Wesley almost died trying to help you. He saved your life, and you're having a hard time dealing with it."

He looked at her for a moment then closed his eyes, bringing one of his hands up to pinch the brow of his nose.

"But really, Gunn, I think you're hesitation just proves that you already have all the proof you'll ever need," Cordelia reassured. "You _know_ what he did, and you'll never forget that."

"No. I won't." He almost smiled. Then, his face fell again, "So. Do we destroy it?"

"I honestly don't know. Our pain over this is still way too fresh. If we do anything now, we might regret it someday for whatever strange reason," she reasoned. "I think we should lock it away somewhere so no one can find it unless they go looking for it. After a while, we can finally decide how to deal with it."

Gunn considered for a moment then nodded in agreement. "At the very least, let's put it some place where Wes won't stumble onto it. He never needs to see it."

"We can worry about that a little later. I, uh, I'm going to the hospital to see Wesley. I don't care if we said we'd give him some space. I'm taking that space back!" she said, grabbing her coat and walking to the door. She stopped and turned back to him, "You comin'?"

He smiled widely and slipped the tape into his pants pocket. It would have to wait. They had a very special friend to visit.

**THE END**


End file.
